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Association between quality of antenatal care and perinatal outcomes

Abstract:

Objective. To determine the association between quality of prenatal care visits and perinatal outcome. Materials and methods. An incident case-control study was conducted using 1 control per case. Data was obtained in a tertiary hospital in Valencia, Venezuela. A total of 488 women who delivered babies between January and October 2001 participated in the study. Women having poor perinatal outcomes (preterm delivery [< 37 weeks of gestations, WHO] or low birth weight [<2,500 g, WHO]) were defined as cases (n= 244). Inappropriate prenatal care (< 5 visits and/or beginning prenatal care after 13 weeks of gestation) was exposure variable. Logistic regression was used to analyze the data, and likelihood ratio test was done for model comparison. Results. Inappropriate prenatal care was found to be significantly associated with poor perinatal outcomes (OR = 1.96 95% CI= 1.3 to 2.89 p = 0.001). After adjusting for potential confounders (categorized instruction grade, categorized age, history of low birth weight and oligohydramnios history), inappropriate prenatal care visit or prenatal care visit delayed were found to be associated with negative perinatal outcomes (OR = 1.96 95% CI = 1.3 to 2.89 P = 0.001) and (OR = 1.83 95% CI = 1.21-2.77 P = 0.004), respectively. Conclusion. Inappropriate prenatal care was associated with an increased risk of poor perinatal outcomes.